Friday, November 13, 2009

1996 Mario Cipollini Cannondale Finally on the Road

Several years ago I became the owner of a made-for Mario Cipollini Cannondale frame. The frame dates to 1996 when Cannondale became the first U.S. bike manufacturer to sponsor a European pro team. As best as I can determine the SAECO sponsorship by Cannondale began in late 1996. More about all this later. Cannondale confirmed that this is a genuine made for Cipollini frame based on photographs I sent. The BB engraving is very unique and matches their records. The "o1" is very interesting, this could possibly be the first bike made for Cipollini.

I was torn between doing a "period correct" build but the big obstacles to that were 1) it would be impossible to paint match the fork with the frame, the frame is white with gold flashing, 2) I didn't want to use one of the early aluminum forks (been there, done that on another Cannondale I had years ago), and 3) even Cannondale couldn't tell me what fork might have first been with the frame. So, I decided to build it as Cipollini might build it today as if he had the frame hanging around. Perhaps in the future I'll build it as period correct as possible (those details later as well).

My goal was to build a reasonably light bike with a bit of Cipollini-type bling within certain budget constraints which required that I make some compromises. The bike weighs 17.5 lbs.

After a short test ride last week I was finally able to get in a long ride on Wednesday. The bike is an absolute rocket, it was a WOW WOW WOW kind of ride. Amazing efficient. This is going to be fun! Another result that was nice is that the ride is actually quite civilized. Very smooth, in fact. I attribute that mainly to the 36 spoked wheels and the Vittoria tires, and perhaps the full carbon fork contributing as well. Down the road I'd like to try some ultralight wheels with tubulars...

Now back to 1996 for this press release:

"November, 1996GAGGIO MONTANO, Italy -- Saeco, international maker of pump-driven espresso and cappuccino machines, has engaged bicycle manufacturer Cannondale to sponsor its Italian-based Team Saeco professional cycling team. Cannondale will provide the team with bicycles and clothing throughout the 1997 season. The Saeco team is a top-level European team, with the world's fastest sprinter," stated Scott Montgomery, Cannondale's vice president of marketing. Cannondale is the first U.S. bicycle maker to supply frames under its own name to a European professional team......".

The 1997 cycling season did indeed become very special for Cannondale. Their flamboyant Tuscan won five stages in the Giro d’Italia, and also won two stages at the Tour de France where he also wore the yellow leader’s jersey for four days.

Cipollini raced an "R4000" model in the 1997 season according to Cannondale. Their catalog has the bike spec'ed as follows:

Stories for the Italian Cycling Journal welcome, contact me at veronaman@gmail.com. There are more than 1,000 stories in this blog, the search feature to the right works best for finding subjects in the blog.